Open Doors
by Miss-Kai
Summary: College AU. A few months ago she never thought that she'd get here. Now look at her. After studying in the country for two years Minako transfers into her brother's university. Forging friendships, deepening bonds, and perhaps even finding a little romance this is a story of a girl's college life and the ups and downs it comes with. Rating subject to change & whole cast interaction
1. Hesitation

"I don't know why I have to be here," the tall brunette grumbled.

"Hey come on. Minato's been waiting for her to show up all summer. I don't know why you can't even go meet her."

"Damn Arisato," he grumbled, tugging on the collar of his shirt. School didn't start up again for another three weeks, couldn't he just meet her later? This heat was killing him. "I'm not even close to the guy."

"Just meet her Akihiko. I mean, you even fixed up the place so she could move in without any issues, right?"

"I'm still pretty sure he thinks I'm super sketchy."

Akihiko grew silent for a moment. "Well I mean, you did do drugs once."

"That literally only happened _once._ And it was fucking _high school_, dammit. Let it go, Akihiko." He let out a loud sigh. "You know what, whatever. Let's just get to those guys' place already."

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><p>The girl sighed in the back of a taxicab as she pulled her auburn hair back into a ponytail, re-pinning her hair for what must've been the twentieth time.<p>

Her brother had arranged for the driver to meet her at the airport, but she was still ridiculously worried nonetheless. Her old school had been fine, but this one had so much more to offer. The Kirijo group hadn't been messing around when they created a college to add to their many ventures on Tatsumi Port Island. It had all the classes she wanted to attend and get under her belt before she was kicked out into the real world. Besides, it wasn't like she had friends at her old school.

"—iss Arisato?" a voice cut into her thoughts and she looked up startled.

"Y—yes?" she asked looking to the front.

"We're here." He pointed out the window at the tall four-story building.

"Right," she agreed, looking at the building. It was a dark brown, all around, the only exceptions being the gray stone steps, green bushes, and black iron fences surrounding the bushes.

He looked at her for a moment. "Would...would you like me to go get your bags?"

"Bags..." she trailed off, still staring at the building. "Oh! Bags! Right, right—" she fumbled, taking her seat belt off and nodded to the driver. "Some help would be amazing."

"It's what I'm here for," he smiled.

She opened her door, still in a daze. "Right."

* * *

><p>The front door had been open as she and the cab driver moved to enter the building.<p>

Quite literally.

"Um," the girl paused, still slightly startled. "Hello there."

She'd been standing outside of the place for a solid five minutes, the driver—she'd remembered his name to be Fujikage—arguing back and forth about actually opening the doors, Fujikage heavily in favor of opening the "damn" things and the girl all over calming herself down and quite possibly turning back. Finally she'd reached for it upon a slightly strained comment from Fujikage about how much luggage she'd decided to bring and made _him_ carry when the door had swung open, greeting her to the face of a rather gruff man with gray eyes mid-speech.

The tall brunette blinked for an awkward moment. "Hi."

He drew in a long breath and turned his head back to look behind him. "Yo Arisato. I think your sister's here."

"Really?" She heard scrambling and the guy moved aside to reveal her blue-haired twin rushing up to her. "_Finally,_" Fujikage muttered, causing the girl to send a glare his way before Minato nearly tackled her. "I'm so happy you're here!"

The girl gently patted her brother on the back, desperately trying to avoid her luggage crashing into him.

After him squeezing her for another minute, he finally let go, directing them to the elevator, the tall guy following behind them.

As they filled the elevator, Minato kept his goofy smile on his face, a sharp contrast to the awkward look still on the brunette. After a few seconds of listening to the upbeat elevator music, Fujikage hummed along, causing the redhead to shoot him look.

Shrugging happily, he pointedly ignored the girl until Minato spoke up again.

"Did you arrive all right? There weren't any problems with the flight, were there?" her brother asked.

"Nope, it was perfectly on time," she smiled. "Thanks for hiring Fujikage there to pick me up too."

"Oh course!" Minato was beaming. "Remind me to pay you once we get inside."

The boy with bleached hair nodded. "Sure thing."

Another few moments the elevator finally dinged open and Minato filed into the hallway, Fujikage trailing behind.

The girl looked at the boy still waiting.

He looked away for a moment, his gray eyes seeming determined not to meet hers before holding an arm out. "After you."

Her eyes widened. "A-ah! Yes! Thank you!" she hurriedly replied. Taking a step to move past him, though, his hand reached out towards her, landing on the handle of one of her suitcases.

"I'll carry that for you," he told her. She nodded once.

"Right. Thank you." The pair walked slowly, the other two already down the hall.

"So. You're transferring in from another college?" It was a question, but it sounded like a fact when he said it.

"Yeah." She snuck a glance at the brunette. "I went to a pretty small school so they didn't have many class options. I was able to take some core classes, but that was about it."

Another moment of silence.

"S—so do you go to school here?"

He took a measured look at the girl before answering. "Yeah, I do. Pretty sure everyone already here goes to the Uni." He looked away. "You're a third-year though, right?"

"Yes."

"Myself and a few others are fourth-years here. Don't worry too much about all that formality shit, though."

"Oh, um, thank you..." she trailed off for a moment, realizing that she didn't know the man's name. "I'm Minako Arisato by the way," she smiled.

Again, his gray eyes met hers. They were cold, but she couldn't help the bubble of curiosity she felt building.

"Pleasure."

"Mm..." she trailed off until they came to a stop before a closed oak door with the number "303" plated on it. Neither one of them reached for the handle, even when a few sounds came from the other side. This would be the beginning of her new life, a new start. This would be a beginning. She reached for the handle hesitantly.

"We can wait another minute if you need it." His voice came, and Minako jumped.

"You don't mind?" She didn't know if she could meet his eyes.

"Nope."

Minako took a shaky breath, attempting to calm herself.

"I'm Shinjiro Aragaki, by the way. Arisato probably didn't tell you."

She snuck a glance at him. He was composed as ever, her bag slung over his shoulder. "No, he didn't. Thanks Aragaki."

His lips moved into somewhat of a frown and Minako caught a spot of blush on Shinjiro's cheeks. "Don't mention it."

And she opened the door.

She wasn't sure where this specific door would lead, if anywhere.

She didn't know if she was even making the right choice here.

If she succeeded here or not was teetering on a fragile balance.

Could she handle it?

Would she handle it?

She wasn't sure. And honestly, she was scared.

But maybe it was a good kind of scared, laced with anticipation.

Maybe even something more.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading the first chapter and intro of Open Doors!<strong>

**I've had this College AU stuck in my head for a while and I'm glad to share it with you.**

**If you enjoyed this and would like to see more, please follow, favorite, and review, every contribution means a great deal.**

**Original Character Aito Fujikage belongs to user Kira989282. Be sure to check out her Persona 3 Portable story Broken Promises!**

**I'm also going with the Western semester timings of the school years ending/beginning with the summer despite Tatsumi Port Island being in Japan. I'm sorry for the inaccuracy, but I didn't realize that I messed the timings up until I'd written more things down the line and I don't really want to change what I have so far. Sorry about this if it bothers you!**

**Anyhow, I hope you join me for the next chapter!**

**- Miss Kai**


	2. Introductions

**Thank you to everyone that's read, favorited, commented, _and_ followed this story! Every one of them has really meant a lot to me.**

**Here's chapter two of Open Doors: Introductions**

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><p>"<em>You're<em> Minako?"

She didn't know what they had envisioned, but it seemed no one in the room expected Minato's twin to be the auburn-haired girl sitting before them.

"Yeah. It's nice to meet you all," the girl smiled at the crowd of people before turning back at the door and spotting Fujikage waiting patiently at the door. "Um, would you guys mind if I..." she pointed back at the man and an older girl with dark red hair smiled at her.

"Not at all, Miss Arisato. Just take your time."

Minako couldn't help but admire the striking elegance of this girl. She looked poised and graceful just sitting on her brother's crowded couch. "Thank you. I'll be back in a jiffy."

She got up and moved past Aragaki to get to her destination.

When she reached the bleach blonde he was smiling. "How much do I owe you Fujikage?"

He held his hands up, "You don't owe me a dime, Arisato. Your brother already paid me."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yup. We're square."

Still the girl fumbled for her wallet. "At least let me give you a tip. I know I wasn't the easiest person to deal with today—"

"Look," he began, cutting the girl off. "Just take this and we'll call it even." He held up a business card and placed it in Minako's hand.

"'Fujikage Aito..?'" she read.

"That'd be me," he smiled. "You can buy me a coffee or something sometime." He offered the girl a mock salute before quickly turning around and dashing out the door. "Later, Minako!"

The girl scrambled after him, but by the time she'd looked down the hall the only sign of him was the hum of the elevator running. Sighing, the girl took a look at the card once more, noting a scribbled phone number and email.

A blue head poked out of the doorway and into the hallway. "Minako, do you want to put your stuff away first or meet everyone?"

"Oh! Minato!" Minako covered the paper on reflex. "Hey! Um...we could do introductions first? I don't really think your friends would want to wait around for me to unpack everything."

Her twin shook her head seriously and smiled. "No, no, it's fine Minako! You can take all the time you want—"

A man with sporting a blue baseball cap and goatee came behind her brother and clapped a hand over his mouth. "Ignore your brother, Mina-tan, some people need to leave soon."

Minako's eyes lit up at the appearance of a familiar face. "Junpei!" she laughed, moving forward to embrace him.

"Hey Mina-tan," he chuckled, leaving her brother in favor of the hug. The gesture was familiar and warm.

When they drew apart she gripped his arm and gave him a smile. "Have you gotten stronger?"

Junpei smirked right back. "Glad my hard work didn't go to waste. Now I just need to impress an actual girl—Ow!"

Minako pinched his forearm. "What do you mean, an 'actual girl,' Mr. Iori."

"Nothing, nothing!" he pleaded until Minako relented.

"How long are you staying for this time?" Junpei whined as he pulled her back into the apartment.

"Forever," she smirked, "You're not getting rid of me that easily, Iori."

"Lord help me," he sighed as they rejoined everyone in the sitting room.

A girl with light brown hair and brown eyes cocked her head. "You two seem close," she noted.

Minako's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, sorry for not properly introducing myself. Like my brother said, my name's Minako and I'm going to be transferring in for the remainder of my schooling. I know _this_ idiot," she pointed at Junpei, "because I visited my brother sometime last year and helped him practice some baseball when my brother was feeling too lethargic."

She looked back to the girl who had spoken. "I'm sorry that I didn't get the chance to meet all of you too."

The girl waved her off and smiled. "That's all right Arisato, I can't really put any blame on you when you've got Stupei hanging around you."

"Hey!" Junpei pouted, looking between the two of them. "Be gentle will you? Now I'll have the _both_ of you on my back all the time. Stress is bad for my health, you know."

Minako laughed at her friend and the other girl just sighed and smiled before turning back to Minako. "I'm Yukari Takeba by the way. It's nice to meet you. I live downstairs if you ever need me." She nudged a thin girl with short teal hair beside her. "You're next."

The girl looked startled for a moment before meeting Minako's eyes and smiling. "I'm Fuuka Yamaguchi, a second year. I live with Yukari, so the same applies to me."

"Thanks!" Minako grinned. It'd be nice to have some girls in the building she could talk to.

Next came the elegant girl. "My name's Mitsuru Kirijo," she smiled.

"Wait. '_Kirijo?'_" Minako echoed. "As in, the Kirijo's who basically own Tatsumi Port Island."

Mitsuru chuckled at the younger girl's reaction. "That would be my name. My father is the head of the company. I live upstairs and you're welcome anytime."

"T-Thank you," the girl stuttered. "It'd be wonderful to spend some time with you."

Mitsuru brushed back some of her curly red hair. "Same to you," she smiled before looking to the silver-haired man sitting beside her.

He smiled warmly and Minako returned the gesture. "I'm Akihiko Sanada, a third year. I live upstairs like Mitsuru. It's nice to finally meet you."

Minako gave the crowd a quizzical stare as they all laughed. "'Finally..?'" she asked.

"Minato could barely get through a conversation without getting super excited over your imminent arrival," Junpei poked Minato in the side and a pink blush dusted his cheeks.

"I wasn't '_super_' excited," he muttered.

"Minato, man, you barely speak. Don't tell me you weren't super excited for Minako to get here."

He opened and closed his mouth a few times before getting up and walking into the kitchen. "I'm thirsty," he defended before retreating into the other room.

Junpei broke out into laughter and the others either followed or smiled at the ridiculous pair.

After the laughter died down, Minato peeped back into the room. "If any of you are finished, I have some old board games we can play."

Minako looked around the room at everyone, smiling. "I'm game if you guys are."

The rest of the group threw in nods or remarks of approval and Minato carried over a large box.

"Is that..." Akihiko began, "Monopoly?"

While half of the room sighed or groaned at the long game, Junpei rushed to Minato's side in a rush to begin.

"I don't know what the rest of you guys are jabbering about, but I know I can't wait to kick your sorry butts."

Evidently those were the wrong words to say in this group of people.

"Heh," Yukari first responded with a confident look and a chuckle. "I'm going to beat you after all, so why not?"

Mitsuru glanced at her watch, "My internship doesn't begin until later tonight, so I can play. Are you okay with staying?"

Fuuka and Akihiko nodded and Minato smiled, turning back to Junpei.

"I hope you're ready to eat your words from earlier," he laughed sinisterly.

Minako laughed at her twin's actions. It didn't seem like he was going to let Junpei's remark go anytime soon.

Everyone moved to the small coffee table to pick out their pieces and Minako quizzed herself on their names. _Yukari, Fuuka, Mitsuru, Aki...Akihiko, and…_

Her eyes caught on the movement of a figure retreating to the apartment's exit.

_Shinjiro._

* * *

><p>Minako had followed him on impulse. She wasn't even sure if anyone had noticed her leaving, but here she was, a few feet away and facing his back.<p>

Her mind raced as she tried to conjure _something_ to say until he decided to break the silence.

"Did you need something?" Shinjiro turned around to face the girl.

The girl's eyes widened. "No...not really," she admitted sheepishly. "I just thought it'd be nice to walk you downstairs."

The elevator doors opened behind him and he gave her a measured look before walking in.

Another moment passed.

"Well?" he asked, his voice gruff. "Are you coming?"

"R—Right!" she darted into the elevator, taking the place across from him.

Pressing the lobby button the two stood in silence before Minako plucked up the courage to speak.

"_So_," she began, eyeing the tall upperclassman. "What's your deal?"

"Excuse me?" he replied.

_Nice one, Minako._

"You almost skipped out on the party today." She laughed nervously. "Trust me, I was there."

He met the girl's eyes for a few moments as if measuring her will to continue this.

After a few tense moments he sighed. "It's hot and I have a job to get to."

"...Right."

"So, how did you enjoy what Minato put together? I know if you were planning on staying longer he was going to order something for everyone to eat..."

There he was with that stare again. It didn't look disinterested, but tough and direct. It was almost intimidating.

Well it's a good thing she was up for a challenge.

Minako cleared her throat. "Regardless I hope you enjoyed yourself."

"It was all right," he replied before smirking. "Not as bad as I imagined it to be."

"The party?" Minako couldn't help but asking. "Or me?"

"You weren't half bad," he smiled again and Minako couldn't help but revel in her small success.

"You're kidding me. What lies have Junpei spawned?"

He didn't laugh, but simply shrugged. "Nothing really."

Another silence passed, but this time the elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open.

"See ya, Minako," he nodded before exiting the room.

Her mind ran a thousand miles a minute and before she knew it, she had taken a step forward. "Shinjiro!" she called.

He turned her way, a brow raised. "Yeah?"

"Do you want to come over later and help me unpack?" she asked.

"You want _me_ to come over and help you unpack your stuff?" he repeated and her heart dropped.

She just asked him to help her with a chore hadn't she?

"If you don't want to that's fine, but if you _do_ Minato mentioned that he had some furniture left to assemble and he told me you fixed up the room, so—"

"I'll do it, but you'll owe me." Shinjiro turned back around and started towards the door.

"...What?" the girl repeated, not quite believing her ears.

"I'll see you around 8 tonight. I'd rather not have you scratch up all the painting I just did." He paused a moment before continuing. "Besides, everyone around here has a pretty busy schedule. It'd be easier if I did it."

Aragaki turned back around and opened the front door.

"T—thank you!" Minako called out to him, and he raised his hand up in acknowledgement before the door shut behind him.

Minako backed into the elevator and hit the button for the third floor.

It wouldn't be wrong to say she cheered for herself behind the closed elevator doors.

If she could become friends with Shinjiro of all people, then she might not have such a rough time here after all.

* * *

><p>"Fucking..." the brunette muttered as he read the instructions to the small dresser for what felt like the hundredth time.<p>

Minako glanced over at the boy, her faith already fallen. "...You wouldn't be happening to have a better time with this than I am, would you?"

Shinjiro just sighed in response.

"Minato said he was going to get Junpei, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," she responded, hanging her head in disappointment. "I'm so sorry about this. I wasn't expecting all..._this._" She gestured at the pieces strewn before them.

They were supposed to be bonding. Not grieving over the goddamn chest Minato had bought.

She felt a slight touch on her shoulder and looked up.

Shinjiro looked at her, his usually intimidating expression soft.

"Hey...it's all right. It could be worse."

His words alone drew a small smile from her. "Really? Like what?"

"You could've scratched my paint job."

"It's a nice paint job."

"You're welcome."

Minako laughed and a smile graced Shinjiro's face.

Looking at him now, Minako couldn't help but think that maybe things _did_ work out for the better.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading this chapter of Open Doors.<strong>

**I'd just like to share some work that I've done on the storyboard of this story. From what I've planned out this will be a pretty long story. I plan on fleshing out Minako's friends and explore her relationships with different people.**

**That being said, while the first two chapters have had a bit of a focus on a certain pairing, this story will have multiple pairings and at this point Minako and Shinjiro are pursuing a platonic relationship. (That could change in the future though!)**

**I've also pretty much figured out what majors the characters in the AU are taking and other details. Would you guys be interested in seeing bios at the end of the chapters with the different character's ages, hobbies, and majors?**

**Anyhow, I'm happy you've read to the end! Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter!**

**(Favorites and follows are also always much appreciated.)**

**- Miss Kai**


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